Your Low-Stress Guide to Leveling-Up Your Bedtime Routine
Are You Burnt Out or Depressed?
I imagine you wanted to love and be loved and you might have occasionally conflated this with weakness.
I imagine you feel this way because I do, tooand I feel a deep kinship with you.
I know firsthand that the cruelties of mental illness can make you question so much.
After falling in love with capable, acerbic Leia (and who wouldnt?
), I longed to understand the woman behind the buns.
…
After falling in love with capable, acerbic Leia (and who wouldnt?
), I longed to understand the woman behind the buns.
Your prose was so smart and consistently hilarious and I devoured every one of your books.
(Speaking of laughter, let me share my most beloved anecdote.
Why hadnt I written a single word in my twenties?
Why did I abandon something IknewI was good at and would have been a calming, creative outlet?
Oh rightuntreated mental illness.
However, when I turned 30now properly diagnosed and hyperaware of my own mortalityI started writing again.
A few essays, just for myself, about pop culture and a short story or two.
Then I got published.
It was with this knowledge that I allowed myself to admit that was exactly what I wanted, too.
It was always your honesty as an artist that resonated most.
Would you bristle at my sincerity if I told you that your public transparency gave me strength?
You taught me this.
How tragic it would be to be runner-up for Bipolar Woman of the Year, you wrote.
A dark but keenly executed quip and I think about it all the time.
I continue to carry this with me, Carrie.
Your friend,Lauren.
Looking for more Strong As Her?
Check out these letters from chronic illness advocateNitika Chopraand Emmy-Award-winning broadcast journalistMara Schiavocampo.
…
Got it, you’ve been added to our email list.
